Thursday, September 13, 2012

Buffoon Duet In The Daily Pilot

NO REST...
I thought I might be able to ease into the upcoming weekend by only
writing about the events next week - easy stuff to address - but NO, it was not to be.

ONE STOOGE SHORT
Tonight two of the "3 M's" that are running for Costa Mesa City Council, Colin McCarthy and Steve Mensinger,
have written commentaries in the Daily Pilot that, I think, may appear
in print Friday morning. You can read Mensinger's campaign piece HERE and McCarthy's hit piece HERE. Let me take them one at a time.

CAMPAIGN STUMP SPEECH
Mensinger lists for us what amounts to his campaign stump speech in ten
(10) stanzas. I'm not going to attempt to duplicate them here - you can read his commentary at the link above - but will
provide to you my response to each of them as I presented in a "comment" appended to the commentary.

*****HERE'S WHAT I WROTE...OK, Steve, I'll play your
game.

1) You held public safety hostage while bullying employee
organizations into submission.

2) And yet you refuse to create the same openness in negotiations
with developers and others trying to get their claws into the
city. You refuse to make your contacts with potential vendors
known. Talk about a double standard!

3) Envision all you want. Until we have a SAFE city all the rest
is just fluff.

4) Before you took office as an appointed (3 votes) councilman we
HAD a safe city, one in which most residents were very proud. You
describe our police force as "top-quality", and I agree with you.
Those officers who remain are among the best to be found
anywhere. However, you and your pals have gutted the department
with irrational, politically-motivated cuts in the staffing levels
that cannot possibly do the job necessary, even with the
excessive, onerous overtime such staffing levels demand. Even the
best police officers can only do so much. Shame on you for this
hypocritical political posturing at the cost of every residents
and visitors public safety!

5) Now that you've beaten the firefighters into submission Chief
Arnold can hire the necessary staff to implement HIS plan - it is
HIS plan, not yours. Whether you're elected or not, it's going to
be implemented as soon as the staff is in place and the necessary
equipment is acquired.

6) You've facilitated the facade of transparency, but the real
decisions are made out of sight.

7) You and your pals would have actually accomplished much of your
outsourcing scheme if you had just followed the rules. But, no,
you jumped the gun, issued layoff notices to over 40% of the city
staff and mired our city in a lawsuit that has cost $2 million -
so far. There are undoubtedly some savings to be made via
outsourcing, but every misstep you've taken has cost us municipal
wealth in the form of exorbitant legal fees - with a law firm
charging $495 per hour without a cap! Sounds like fiscal
irresponsibility to me.

8) About that partnership with the school district.. we saw how
much you care about that when you and your pals demanded the
School Resource Officers be removed from campus and take up
regular patrol duties. The value of the SRO program is undeniable
as a tool to head off gang involvement. When you poll your Mesa
Verde neighbors about WHY they move their children to other
schools I suspect one of the first things mentioned is safety.
Removing the SRO's was a BAD idea.

9) You've long criticized previous councils for "blowing through
reserves" without giving them the credit they deserve for
accumulating those reserves to be used in times of emergency -
like the past four years. The real heroes in this drama are the
employees of this city - at least, the ones who remain. We're
down more than 25% and municipal services suffer for it. But you
don't care - you're happy to thump your chest and say, "See what I
did!" You didn't do squat! What you have done is completely
demoralize the staff by your heavy-handedness and micromanaging.

10) I'll tell you, Steve, I had a good belly-laugh when I read
your final item. You crow about "listening" to people with your
now-infamous "coffees". The only problem is that, while you may
listen, you don't hear what the people are saying. During your
tour as a political appointee on the council - again, 3 votes -
thousands of people have stood before you to air grievances, ask
questions, provide guidance and ask for your help. In exchange,
many of those people have endured your smug smirks, belittling
remarks and disrespectful comments. When you were sworn-in you
said you REALLY wanted to be a coach. Well, I think that's a
GREAT idea. In that job you can be the dictator you've
demonstrated to us that you really are.
*****

COLIN'S LIE-LACED ATTACK ON EPPERSON
Then, to address Colin McCarthy's hit piece on retired Costa Mesa Police Lieutenant Clay Epperson, I wrote the following as a comment. You can read Colin's letter at the link above.
*****HERE'S WHAT I WROTE...

What a surprise that
Colin McCarthy chooses to use valuable column inches to denigrate
a highly respected former member of the Costa Mesa Police
Department - Clay Epperson - and fabricates "facts" to do it!

McCarthy tells us that his father-in-law retired after 50 years as
a union iron worker at age 70 and only receives a fraction of
Epperson's retirement income. He says, "Something isn't right."
It's this kind of attempt at class warfare that makes McCarthy
such a bad choice for a seat on the Costa Mesa City Council. His
glib, smarmy attempts to paint every retiree as greedy slackers is
despicable. Maybe his father-in-law should have chosen a
different profession a half-century ago - but he didn't. He
picked his career and the benefits that went along with it. To
now have his son-in-law demonstrate the worst kind of class envy
on his behalf is very unseemly, but not unexpected.

McCarthy says, "the police unions spend hundreds of thousands of
your tax dollars to elect who they want...", which is a bold-faced
lie. Yes, Colin McCarthy is a liar! Whatever dollars the members
of employee associations might spend on political activities are
THEIR DOLLARS, not yours or mine. They earned those dollars and,
just as you do, have the right to spend them ANY WAY THEY CHOOSE!

He fabricates a theory that employee pay increases are somehow
illegal and should cause them to end up in jail is so preposterous
on its face that words almost fail me - almost. Yet another case
of class envy by an under-achiever. He should be ashamed of
himself!

He also fabricates the position the police association has taken,
all to further his bogus theories.

Near the end he says, "We are tired of the lies." Well, Colin, so
are we. You're going to find out just HOW tired on November 6th.
Just keep those lies coming...

*****

SCRAMBLING
It's very clear that, since the Feet To The Fire Forum earlier this
month, both Mensinger and McCarthy - who each performed marginally, are
beginning to scramble. Certainly, Mensinger didn't like being boo'd by
the audience several times and is now attempting to perform damage
control with this commentary. He misses that mark.

LIES AS AN ART-FORM
McCarthy has apparently decided to crank up his anti-police mode and
doesn't seem bothered at all that he must lie to do it. There's a very
clear message to the voters in both of those essays, but especially so
in McCarthy's. That message is that he doesn't care what he has to say
to sway the voters and will lie if required to do so. The scary part is
that he does it so easily...

24 Comments:

Think back to when the council majority authorized the cover-up of no-bid contracts from the ballot summary in their vote on August 9. After that "debate" and vote, I knew then the lengths they would go to keep the lies going.

great reporting here. knew it was going to be unbiased when i read the word "stooges" at the beginning. excellent pieces by the M's. the voters have a clear choice, vote the M's who put residents first and who realize city hall is not a jobs factory or vote for two democrats and a rino who are slow growth, union loving shills. Epperson should cash his check and stifle. We don't need him telling us about how dangerous our gangs are, the white gangs you know, no mention of any hispanic gangs from him. Yes, Clay the white gangs are more dangerous to you, a cop, we know that. They lien your houses. But it is the hispanic gangs that are a greater threat to residents at large but you never mention them in your citizen police academy and school programs. another democrat type move. Steve's contract is awesome. Mate in two.

There's another problem with McCarthy's statement that the "unions spend our tax dollars to elect who they want." The dollars spent by the employee associations also do not, in fact, "elect who they want." None of the last ten years worth of city councils have had a majority of union-pandering liberals. The majorities over the last ten years have all been comprised of McCarthy's "conservative" predecessors and those "conservatives" created the now-hated pension structures.

So McCarthy actually gives us two lies for the price of one! They're not our tax dollars and they don't elect who the unions want.

I often wonder about these kinds of ridiculous lies in public. Does McCarthy really, truly believe what he writes or is he able to suppress his conscience because he believes so strongly that the end justifies whatever means, including bald-faced lies? Either way, it makes him unfit for any position of authority.

Hey Roboto - nobody ever said the Cauldron was a reporter. Learn the difference between opinion and reporting. If you want to be critical of reporting, call out the Pilot for running McCarthy's letter as 'mailbag' instead of commentary or flat-out, lie-filled campaigning.

It's similar to the difference between facts and lies, another thing you guys haven't seemed to figure out. But I guess if you say the lie enough, you'll start to believe in your own BS.

Roboto Steve you are a funny guy. I mean FAKE! If you are not Steve like Mensinger you say things that are completely the opposite of the truth.

Who puts residents first? You mean the guy who also listens to the residents! Yes we have seen how he listens at council meetings.

The guys who makes this FAKE comment at the forum about we need to be more civil and then degrades MR. Stephens community involvement at that same forum.

but what I want to know is, if the labor unions elected all these UNION backed candidates who voted for pension enhancements as payback, and we don't want these people in office anymore (1) how will Monahan get elected to council again ? (2) How will Bever get elected to the Water District? (3) How did Mansoor get elected as an Assmblymen?

All three of these politicians voted to enhance pensions of City Employees.

Were they bribed as has been implied? Were they bought by the unions?

If McCarthy and Mensinger speak the truth then Monahan, Bever and Mansoor were bought by the unions and they repaid them by voting in City employee enhancement.

In 2008 Mansoor and Bever not only voted to approve 2@55 for general city employees, Mayor Bever made the motion, Mansoor second, and then Bever praised the city employees for being so economically aware and thoughtful in paying for the enhancement.

We all know Monahan approved the 3@50 in 2010. Was he on the take then? Did he vote as a favor or payback to that support as McCarthy and Mensinger claimed.

Love the pieces by Mensinger and McCarthy. Exposing the lies and sharing factual numbers. The enemy of the haters. As a worker I can tell you I'm tired of these backroom deals that are making the cops rich and us poor. Keep them coming! Think I will pen something next week.

So McCarthy points out a valid argument in his piece. Are we paying these cops longer and more in retirement than we we are when they work? If Epperson worked for 28 years and now gets this pay, what if he lives longer than age 78? Are we paying him longer? If so, how does that work financially. Can we pay every American in retirement longer and more money than they made while they worked? Isn't that simply a pyramid scheme?

Has anyone from the giant OCGOP machine counseled Riggy's puppet "Charlie" McCarthy about his horrid performance at Feet to the Fire?

Just like his role model Mensinger, he came off as a defensive, arrogant punk. If he slumped any further in his chair he would have slid off. The folded arms are not even a good Mussolini imitation; rather, they just tell his true insincerity and trepidation.

Great work Mensinger and McCarthy. You have the Haters so pissed off as you can read here.

Fire is out this election. But maybe the testosterone driven Police Union will realize the error of their ways of the No Righeimer Trailer and decide that a NO 3M’s Banner pulled by a helicopter is a much better idea. You could have McNiff, Moon and just Thinking fly it for you. Sandy screeching her voice on a loud speaker.

This is a big idea folks.

Keep the jab working. The knockout punch comes in November when we can all taunt the Pot Belly.

I M Free - I wish I knew how to fly a helicopter, because I might take you up on that. That said, the city used to have a couple helicopters, but your buddies on the council (if you aren't actually one of them - obviously, I can't tell because you hide behind your feeble, quasi-tea party alias) sold them at a discount when they cancelled ABLE.

FYI mensinger, the only people who care about high school football are the people who play high school football and their parents. To everyone else it is just a form of entertainment much like Jersey Shore on MTV. It is there but its value to real life is debatable.

"Phil, this sums you up: cheap, lying, no-good, rotten, four-flushing, low-life, snake-licking, dirt-eating, inbred, overstuffed, ignorant, blood-sucking, dog-kissing, brainless, spineless, hopeless, heartless, fat-ass, bug-eyed, stiff-legged, spotty-lipped, worm-headed sack of monkey dung.Explain to all of us please how he is a thief of any sort. Working for 30 years and retiring in upper management is stealing, how? He was in management, by the way and not a "union" member."

Agree with the above 100%.We believe posts here written under "Barry" and "Phil" are the work of Marty, owner of an extremist blog in Costa Mesa.

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